Colonial Time Line

Magna Carla

Jun 15, 1215

Royal charter of rights agreed to by King John.

Jamestown Settled

May 14, 1607

Located in West Virginia is the first permanent English settlement in North America.

Mayflower Compact was written

Nov 11, 1620

The first governing document of Plymouth Colony.

Petition of Rights

Jun 7, 1628

A document setting out specific individual protections against the state.

English Bill of Rights

Dec 16, 1689

This sets out certain basic civil rights and clarifies who would be next to inherit the Crown.

Albany Plan of Union

Jul 10, 1754

This was a plan to place the British North American colonies under a more centralized government.

Stamp Act

Mar 22, 1765

This an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain which imposed a direct tax on the British colonies in America and required that many printed materials in the colonies be produced on stamped paper produced in London, carrying an embossed revenue stamp.

Boston Massacre

Mar 5, 1770

British soldiers shot and killed several people while being harassed by a mob in Boston.

Boston Tea Party

Dec 16, 1773

A political and mercantile protest by the Sons of Liberty in Boston.

Intolerable Act

Jun 2, 1774

These were punitive laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774 after the Boston Tea Party.

First Continental Congress

Sep 5, 1774

A meeting of delegates from 12 of the 13 British colonies that became the United States.

American Revolution Begins

Apr 19, 1775

"The Shot Heard Around The World" British soldiers v.s. the colonist military.

Second Continental Congress

May 10, 1775

A meeting of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies in America which united in the American Revolutionary War.

Declaration of Independence

Jul 4, 1776

A pronouncement adopted by the Second Continental Congress meeting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that declared our independence.